The EU has long frowned at China’s action in Africa for not requiring respect for human rights as a condition for aid and thus promoting a Chinese-inspired authoritarian Africa. But in recent years the EU is not better, writes Fabian Wagner.

Few people have better insights into the EU migration debate than Bernardino León, a man once described as the golden boy of Spanish politics. The diplomat said that disembarkation platforms and controlled centres for migrants, currently envisaged by EU leaders, won’t stop the flow of immigrants to Europe.

The European Commission has called a meeting today (25 August) after Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said his party would vote to suspend funding to the EU unless other member states agreed to take in migrants being held on a coastguard ship in Sicily.

A rescue operation in which an Italian towboat rescued more than 100 migrants and returned them to Libya earlier this week may have been in breach of international law, the United Nations said on Tuesday (31 July).

How to save lives without becoming "taxi services" for people smugglers? Charity-run rescue boats operating in the Mediterranean face a dilemma and their activity is being increasingly criticised by politicians in Europe.

A humanitarian ship that has had about 230 rescued migrants on board for almost a week docked in Malta yesterday (27 June), ending a stand-off with Italy which refused to let the ship into one of its ports.

European Union leaders meeting over migration later this week will agree to further tighten their external borders, give more support to Libya and look at creating "disembarkation" centres outside of their territory for people who arrive by sea.

The EU is considering setting up "disembarkation platforms" outside the bloc to process migrants, according to draft summit conclusions seen Tuesday (19 June) by AFP, as Brussels tries to solve a political crisis over immigration.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday (18 June) she wanted to support Italy in its efforts to reduce the number of migrants arriving on its shores, possibly handling asylum requests for Europe in non-European countries including Libya.

Rival Libyan factions agreed on Tuesday (29 May) on a declaration that would create a political framework to pave the way for UN-backed elections in December to end the country's seven-year-old conflict.

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who received yesterday (12 April) the new Slovak PM Peter Pellegrini, made optimistic remarks on the upcoming Slovak presidency of the Visegrad countries, in the perspective of a deal to reform the Dublin asylum system.

Spain is worried about security on its southern border due to the possible influx of Islamist fighters to West Africa's Sahel region, Spain's foreign minister told AFP in an interview yesterday (8 February).

More than 13,000 migrants have been repatriated from Libya since the beginning of December, the African Union's chief said yesterday (29 January), nearly two months after reports emerged showing refugees being sold as slaves.

The Dublin regulation, allocating asylum claims to the first port of call on a migrant's journey, is unfit for purpose. The European Parliament has come to a shared position that guarantees fair treatment of refugees and shared responsibility in the EU. Now it's up to member states to do their share, writes Cornelia Ernst.

During an emergency meeting on the situation in Libya, 9 African countries and European member states decided to launch a joint intelligence operation to dismantle the human trafficking networks. EURACTIV France reports.

The United Nations wants Libya's internationally-backed government to agree to shut down 30 detention centers holding 15,000 migrants, most of whom will be sent back to their countries, the head of the IOM said on Tuesday (28 November).

On the eve of the EU-Africa Summit, Gianni Pittella says that European short-termism in migration policy will not address its root causes, and looks at agribusiness to leverage the continent out of poverty - 'but not at any cost'.

Migration will dominate the fifth Summit between Africa and the European Union, which will be held in Abidjan on 29 and 30 November. But Europeans keep dictating the agenda, due to lack of political unity in the African Union.